While whiskey and beer have grabbed most of the attention over the past few years, something quietly happening in the shadows is a Craft Distilled Rum. The spirit that first captured the American imagination centuries ago is regaining ground, thanks to an influx of small distillers who are taking cues from some of the best examples around the world. It’s a movement that has helped give birth to a range of new styles from a number of distinctly regional flavors.

Craft Distilled Rum: A Unique and Artisanal Spirit

For these distillers, it’s about more than just making a great rum; it’s about forging a deeper connection with drinkers. It’s a spirit that’s been a byproduct of colonialism and slavery but also an instrument of rebellion and a conduit for culture, making it a global phenomenon with an enduring legacy, whose dark chapters can be read alongside brighter ones of innovation and exploration.

At a recent tasting in San Francisco, Stéphane Babcock of Saint Benevolence, a Haitian-American company founded in 2017, guided attendees through a deep subcategory of rum called “clairin.” Unlike molasses-based rums that are distilled and aged in pot stills, clairin is made with fresh sugar cane juice (known as “porosité”) that is slow-boiled into syrup outside the distillery in the field before being put in a copper pot still to ferment and then distilled again. This produces a flavor with grassy, warm and woody notes that are distinct from more conventional rums. These differences are what many people are drawn to, and why some are starting to look at rum as a terroir spirit.